either."
"Mr. President," Arlene said, "you gave me authorization to put your special executive order into effect. I did so at a little past five this morning."
"All right," he said. "It's amazing when one considers the fact that this sensitive international crisis is going to be settled by dozens rather than thousands of troops."
"Without a doubt it's a most unique situation."
"And now our own so-called compact group will answer the challenge," the President said. "A small, deadly operation within a larger one, with global implications."
"Operation Battleline folded into Operation Persian Empire," Arlene said.
The President sighed. "The worst part of this job is having to put the lives of our finest young people at risk." He stood and walked to the window, gazing out pensively. "I cannot describe how much it distresses me."
Arlene got to her feet and went over to him, standing close to the chief executive. "Would it make you feel better if I reminded you they were all volunteers?"
"Not really."
CHAPTER 1
SHELOR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN
7 JUNE
THE procedure is called "isolation," and the name can be taken literally.
This is a routine of segregating a detachment as it begins preparation for a highly classified mission. Its members are either moved to a secure area, or their present quarters are sealed off. Segregated from the outside by security personnel, the people concerned are first briefed with what is actually a very complicated WARNO. This involves a detailed presentation, usually given by an operations and/or intelligence officer that spells out the what, where, and when of an upcoming operation.
This is called the briefing.
The people receiving the information then write up an OPLAN based on everything they've learned during the briefing. When the commander of the mission is satisfied with it, the OPLAN is presented orally to the briefing team.
That phase is called the briefback.
This can lead to more discussion until everything is hashed over and given a final approval. At that point it becomes an OPORD, and the situation shifts into high gear for implementation and application.
The SEAL operations officer, Commander Thomas Carey, and his cohort, Lieutenant Commander Ernest Berringer, an intelligence officer, worked off the USS Combs, a DDG that served as a surreptitious SFOB floating around in the Persian Gulf. The commander was a grumpy U. S. Army Special Forces brigadier general named Leroux. He likened his assignment to being encased in a steel box that rolled and pitched 24/7 without ceasing. From all appearances, the vessel was just part of a CVBG carrying on normal duties rather than acting as a direction center for SPECOPS within that operational area.
Both Carey and Berringer had arrived at Shelor Field only hours before. Their appearances were always unexpected and heralded the beginning of exciting times, but this latest presence raised moods of the deepest suspicion and apprehension among Brannigan's Brigands. The pair of visiting officers had someone with them, and this person gave strong evidence that something very special was about to go down. Carl Joplin, PhD, an Undersecretary of State, was already well known by the SEALs, and his usual bailiwick was in the State Department Building in Washington, D. C.
Immediately after their arrival, Carey and Berringer placed the recently reinforced SEAL detachment Brannigan's Brigands in isolation. The SEALs were taken into their special hangar, cut off from the rest of the air base, meaning they no longer ate in the mess hall, no longer visited the theater or service club, and had to curtail their favorite pastime of making out with female Air Force personnel behind the beer garden. Security was provided by Shelor's APs to make sure the Brigands were kept out of circulation.
They and all their belongings were now in total confinement.
.
SEAL HANGAR
0700 HOURS
SCPO Buford Dawkins checked the names on his clipboard with the faces seated in the
"Mr. President," Arlene said, "you gave me authorization to put your special executive order into effect. I did so at a little past five this morning."
"All right," he said. "It's amazing when one considers the fact that this sensitive international crisis is going to be settled by dozens rather than thousands of troops."
"Without a doubt it's a most unique situation."
"And now our own so-called compact group will answer the challenge," the President said. "A small, deadly operation within a larger one, with global implications."
"Operation Battleline folded into Operation Persian Empire," Arlene said.
The President sighed. "The worst part of this job is having to put the lives of our finest young people at risk." He stood and walked to the window, gazing out pensively. "I cannot describe how much it distresses me."
Arlene got to her feet and went over to him, standing close to the chief executive. "Would it make you feel better if I reminded you they were all volunteers?"
"Not really."
CHAPTER 1
SHELOR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN
7 JUNE
THE procedure is called "isolation," and the name can be taken literally.
This is a routine of segregating a detachment as it begins preparation for a highly classified mission. Its members are either moved to a secure area, or their present quarters are sealed off. Segregated from the outside by security personnel, the people concerned are first briefed with what is actually a very complicated WARNO. This involves a detailed presentation, usually given by an operations and/or intelligence officer that spells out the what, where, and when of an upcoming operation.
This is called the briefing.
The people receiving the information then write up an OPLAN based on everything they've learned during the briefing. When the commander of the mission is satisfied with it, the OPLAN is presented orally to the briefing team.
That phase is called the briefback.
This can lead to more discussion until everything is hashed over and given a final approval. At that point it becomes an OPORD, and the situation shifts into high gear for implementation and application.
The SEAL operations officer, Commander Thomas Carey, and his cohort, Lieutenant Commander Ernest Berringer, an intelligence officer, worked off the USS Combs, a DDG that served as a surreptitious SFOB floating around in the Persian Gulf. The commander was a grumpy U. S. Army Special Forces brigadier general named Leroux. He likened his assignment to being encased in a steel box that rolled and pitched 24/7 without ceasing. From all appearances, the vessel was just part of a CVBG carrying on normal duties rather than acting as a direction center for SPECOPS within that operational area.
Both Carey and Berringer had arrived at Shelor Field only hours before. Their appearances were always unexpected and heralded the beginning of exciting times, but this latest presence raised moods of the deepest suspicion and apprehension among Brannigan's Brigands. The pair of visiting officers had someone with them, and this person gave strong evidence that something very special was about to go down. Carl Joplin, PhD, an Undersecretary of State, was already well known by the SEALs, and his usual bailiwick was in the State Department Building in Washington, D. C.
Immediately after their arrival, Carey and Berringer placed the recently reinforced SEAL detachment Brannigan's Brigands in isolation. The SEALs were taken into their special hangar, cut off from the rest of the air base, meaning they no longer ate in the mess hall, no longer visited the theater or service club, and had to curtail their favorite pastime of making out with female Air Force personnel behind the beer garden. Security was provided by Shelor's APs to make sure the Brigands were kept out of circulation.
They and all their belongings were now in total confinement.
.
SEAL HANGAR
0700 HOURS
SCPO Buford Dawkins checked the names on his clipboard with the faces seated in the
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